Pokemon: The Council of Elders
by Pytas
Summary: Jeff Grayson is a normal kid who sets out on his Pokemon Journey with his friend Craig, but partway through his Journey he finds an entire other realm that governs our own...
1. Prologue

**Hi. I'm PurpleBanana86. You've probably never heard of me before, and perhaps never will, if this story gets SHOVED INTO THE DEEP DEEP VOID OF DEATH THAT IS THE POKEMON FAN-FICTION ARCHIVES! Anyway, this story takes place about twenty years after the television series (if it ever ends). In this world, Ash Ketchum is married (not saying to who), so is Gary Oak, and they have both settled down. Oh, and Prof. Oak is dead, thank God. Just so you know. Also, this prologue isn't very well written (in my opinion). But please, bear with me and don't just dismiss it. Alright, then enjoy, people who I hope are reading this.**

Prologue: How to Talk to Pigs and Other Useful Things to Learn at School

Jeffery Grayson lived a very regular life. He had a regular baby sister, an older sister who he hadn't heard from in three years (which, yes, _is_ slightly unorthodox), two regular loving parents, a regular grandpa, regular friends, and a regular school life, as well as living on a regular farm and in a regular region, the Tryotho region. However, something was very irregular with his regular life: he lived with pokémon. Yes, pokémon, something that wasn't so irregular to him, but rather irregular to us.

Anyway, moving on, he lived with pokémon. He also loved them. At school, he talked to kids about pokémon. They talked back to him about pokémon. He drew pokémon. And he dreamed about pokémon. He wanted to go on an adventure with them, wanted to watch them evolve, and to see them as friends.

Jeff had short black hair, which was very messy and never combed right. He wore a one-size-fits-all mahogany vest, which he wore open over a blue shirt that had a pokéball with a lightning bolt through it on it, which was the insignia of the Pokémon League of the Tryotho region, aptly named the Tryotho League. His shorts were comfy and easy to wear, and also black to boot. He never carried anything around with him, except maybe his Mp3 player. He didn't like unnecessary extra weights holding him back.

On this particular morning when our story begins, Jeff and his friend Craig had both turned fourteen, Craig on the thirteenth of October, and Jeff on the twenty-first of the same month. In the region in which the two boys lived, the local government had thought that sending out ten-year-old kids to fend for themselves in a world of Bikers, Gamblers, and Jugglers was too dangerous. So, they bumped it up four years, which was met with a fair bit of protest from the ten-year-olds of the time, but the parents seemed to like it, so here we are. The two friends attended Pokémon Elementary School (not a lot of thought went into the name), which was holding its monthly Pokémon Graduation Day that evening after school, in which all the student who had turned fourteen in that month received licenses that certified them as official Trainers. That would mean that Jeff and Craig would be allowed to keep pokémon, whether as companions, pets, or combatants, and also entitled them to no more schooling (some people forwent this to stay for a few more years of education, in order to get a different kind of job not involving pokémon). Now, this meant that Jeff and Craig missed out on Halloween, but that was trivial compared to this.

That was rather long, but now to the storyline!

Jeff woke up that morning with a grin on his face. He jumped out of bed, changed out of his pajamas, and rushed downstairs to greet his parents.

"Morning Mom, morning Dad," he said cheerfully, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Jeff," said his father, who worked in the Pokémon Laboratory as an assistant to the professor. This meant he got many fringe benefits, which included free transportation wherever the professor went.

"Good morning, Jeff," said his mother, who was a homemaker. Nothing interesting to say.

"_Broof_," said Mr. Gruff, the pet Growlithe of Jeff's older sister Abigail. After she had left home, all Growlithe-related responsibilities were transferred to Jeff. Jeff squatted down and scratched Mr. Gruff behind the ears. He nuzzled his master lovingly as Jeff fixed him up a nice bowl of pokémon food, which he dug into like he'd never had it before in his life.

Jeff quickly gobbled down his bowl of cereal, then rushed back upstairs to brush his teeth.

Mr. Grayson sighed. "Remember when he was ten, and nothing got him excited?"

Mrs. Grayson smiled. "It's a good thing he became a Trainer later, then."

Jeff tramped down the stairs, grabbing his backpack as he passed it. Mr. Gruff trotted behind his heels, barking happily. "Bye Mom, bye Dad! See you later!" he shouted, slamming the front door behind him.

Outside at the bus stop, Craig was waiting. "Hey, Jeff! How's things?"

"Today's the last day of school and the day we get our licences. I feel GREAT!" The two boys high-fived, all maturity gone in the spirit of the moment. At that moment, for the sake of deleting mindless filler, the bus arrived.

"Wow, I was cutting it close, wasn't I?" said Jeff.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to be late on your last day!" Craig smirked as he got on the bus.

"Why are you smirking?"

"I have no idea..."

...

Later, that day at school...

"BLARG this is boring as hell!" mumbled Jeff as he sat through his (last) math class with Ms. Vite, who, at the moment, was discussing the Pythagorean Theorem. Something to do with triangles or something like that. Jeff wasn't fully listening, and neither was Craig.

Luckily the bell rang, protecting their innocent young minds from any more assault. Their next class was Pokémon Speech Lessons, which Craig was failing rather miserably, but Jeff found to his surprise he was doing quite well.

Pokémon Speech Lessons was a class in which the students learned how to understand their pokémon through the various grunts, roars, squeaks, and other assorted noises they made. In the past five years, numerous breakthroughs had been made on translating pokémon speech, so much so that it was now taught in schools across the globe. It was quite difficult, what with there being so many different meanings for one word, depending on volume, pitch, length of the word, etc. One 'Charmander!' had been know to mean anything from 'I'm hungry' to 'OMFG THERE'S A GIANT RABID GROWLITHE BEHIND YOU!' which actually happened once. It was an occasion many students would rather forget.

Today was the test for all graduating students. They would talk to a pokémon, while the teacher (who was an expert at talking to pokémon) recorded everything that was said and see how well the student responded to the pokémon's questions, then they would do a written test.

"Alright, class!" said the teacher, Mr. Kirby. "Today, at least for four of you, it is your final exam. For you four, I would like you to sit at the four desks in front of me here, and talk to the pokémon sitting on each desk." Mr. Kirby gestured to the four desks sitting in front of his own. Pokémon sat on each desk. "Please, take any seat you like. The rest of you, find something quiet to do."

"I call the one with the Vulpix!" cried Selena Forsey, shooting to the front and dropping herself down in front of the Vulpix. "So, Vulpix, what's new?"

"I'm taking the Bellsprout!" shouted Harry Simpson, sitting in front of the little pitcher plant pokémon. "Read any good books lately?"

Craig chose the seat with the Baltoy, leaving Jeff with the Swinub. Jeff shifted in his chair to get more comfortable, then asked, "So how are you?"

"Sssswi...nub nub," said the little icy piglet. Jeff mentally called on his notes to try and translate that, and to the best translation he could get, it meant, "I'm okay. How are you?"

"Uh, I'm fine," he said. "Um, heard any good Swinub gossip lately, or something?" He sighed. "Okay, we're supposed to make small talk, but conversation isn't my strong suit."

"It's not mine either," said the Swinub, or, more literally, it said, "Nub, swinub swine swine."

"Then, uh, do you have something you'd rather talk about?"

The Swinub launched into a flurry of grunts, squeaks, and other sounds. Jeff struggled to keep up, but for the most part, he understood quite well. The Swinub was talking about how it didn't want to get up this morning, to which Jeff responded, "Yeah, I've had mornings like that too. Like, when the bed is so comfy, but you know you have to get up anyway. I hate that." So then they started talking about winter, in which this memory of Jeff's took place, but the Swinub said that winter was its favourite season. Jeff shook his head and shivered at the memory of winter. "I don't like it. Too cold for my tastes. Brr."

...

Ten minutes later, the talk was finished and all the graduates were standing in front of Mr. Kirby, who had four sheets of paper in his hand. He handed them out to the students. "Now for the writing section of your test."

Jeff groaned. He hated 'summarizing the blah blah blah' or 'translating the yadda yadda', and mind-numbing things like that. He couldn't wait for it to be over. Luckily, I'm the writer, so what is about forty minutes for the characters is only a few clicks on the keyboard for me.

So, forty minutes later, the tests were finished, handed in, marked, and handed back. As Jeff and Craig reviewed their tests, Jeff whispered to Craig, "89 per cent on the Oral task. What did you get?"

Craig silently showed him his Oral rubric paper. The mark at the top said, '57%'.

Jeff frowned. "Too bad."

Craig shrugged. "Luckily my writing made up for it, and I got a 62 per cent average! Pass!" The two friends high-fived. "How about you?"

"My average is 93." Jeff smiled smugly. "Ha ha ha."

Craig scowled half-heartedly, then put his papers back in his bag. "Come on, our next class is starting." The two boys jogged off down the hallway, thinking of the imminent graduation ceremony, and, more specifically, their Trainer Cards waiting for them.


	2. 1: Head North, Young Man

**Okay, hopefully you enjoyed the prologue. Uh, just so you know, in this story, I'll be using a few of my own original pokémon. Hopefully it doesn't put you off, but I don't put them on a pedestal and praise them like they're the best thing since sliced bread (that would be too conceited of me). Just so you know. Well, enjoy Chapter 1!**

Chapter 1: Head North, Young Man

Jeff Grayson lay on his bed, fingering the new Trainer Card he had gotten the night before. It was small and rectangular, with rounded edges, and was mostly blue in colour. The inside rectangle, which portrayed his photograph, his badges (of which he had none), and his personal data (age, sex, hair colour, etc.), was white. Just looking at it made him smile. That and the fact that he got his first pokémon and started his Pokémon Journey. And, even better still, this October was the tenth anniversary of the local Pokémon Laboratory, meaning that the Lab wasn't just offering the starters from the Tryotho region, Dropdaling (the Water starter), Blosprig (the Grass starter), and Eelava (the Fire starter), but the starters from every region. With so many options to choose from, Jeff wasn't sure who he'd pick. Craig had his heart set on Eelava, even though he could get any starter he wanted.

A shout from downstairs broke Jeff out of his fantasizing trance. It was his mother, calling him to come downstairs. Jeff went down, replying as he did so, "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"We got you something!"

That doubled Jeff's pace. He hurried into the living room to see his mother, his father, and his little sister with a large gift bag. Mr. Gruff was there too, but all he was doing was rolling around on the floor.

"This is yours, for your Pokémon Journey." Mrs. Grayson handed it to Jeff. Jeff wasted no time in ripping out the tissue paper to see what was in the bag. He reached in and pulled out a brand new green backpack.

He looked over at his old brown backpack, sitting in the hall. It didn't look too bad, but it was _kind_ of scuffed up. "Um, thanks," he said, not sure if he should be really grateful.

"Open it up," said Mr. Grayson. Jeff obliged and inside were various pockets, each with its own little label. One said 'TMs', another said 'Supplies'(that one was much larger), and one more said 'Pokéballs'. That one had a bulge in it, so Jeff unzipped it. Inside were five pokéballs. Jeff smiled. He had pokéballs now. He was getting more and more like a real Trainer.

"Thanks Mom, thanks Dad," he said, then he gave each of them a hug.

"Your welcome, bucko," said Mr. Grayson. "Now, it's almost noon. Aren't you supposed to be at the Lab by now?"

"Oh, that's right!" Jeff quickly ran to the door and slipped on his shoes. He grabbed his favourite green hat and went to leave when his mother interrupted him.

"Uh, Jeff," and she pointed at his backpack. He smiled, rushed over, zipped it all up, and rushed out with a "Bye, guys!" thrown back at his family.

Mr. Grayson leaned back in his chair. "Reminds me of myself when I was a teen," he said.

Mrs. Grayson rolled her eyes. "That's what they all say."

Mr. Grayson tried his best to look hurt. "Well, it's true!"

...

Jeff pedalled his bike as fast as he could. The faster he got there, the more choices to choose from. There weren't that many kids who'd turned fourteen in that October, but still.

Jeff pulled up in front of the Lab. In front of it sat Craig, who looked bored. Jeff locked his bike in the bike rack and ran over to him. Craig looked pleased to see someone else there.

"I'm the last one in," he said. "There were five kids in front of me, the two from school and three from somewhere else. So far, no one's come out with the Eelava. I'm just waiting on this next guy. Then it's my turn."

Before Jeff could say something, the lab doors slid open quietly and a boy in a t-shirt and jeans walked out, holding a pokéball. Craig quickly stood up and called the boy. "What pokémon did you get?"

"I got the Totodile," he said. Craig breathed a sigh of relief and the boy gave him a confused look. Then he left.

"Next!" came a woman's voice from inside.

"That's me!" and Craig rushed inside.

A few minutes later, Craig came back out, looking extremely proud of himself.

"You look happy," Jeff understated.

"I certainly do, and for good reason. I got the Eelava!" Craig reserved a moment for a victory dance.

"Next!" said the woman's voice again.

"That would be me!" said Jeff, and he went inside.

The entire interior of the Laboratory was white and grey, and was covered in scientific notes and examination stuff. Somewhere, a machine hummed loudly. The main room of the Lab, which was what Jeff was standing in, was basically a two-floor corridor, with the second floor accessible by twin flights of stairs at the opposite end. Standing between the staircases was the Professor, Prof. Maple. Being one of the only women in charge of a major lab facility, she was highly respected. In front of her was a table with small cups in it. In most of them (except for six) sat pokéballs with labels on them. The labels were there to let people know which pokémon was inside.

Jeff stepped forward in front of the specially-designed table. Prof. Maple said nothing, but gestured at the table, as if to say, 'please choose'.

Jeff clapped his hand together and rubbed them. "Okay, which one?" He looked over the pokéballs to make his choice. His hand decided to go for a walk, moving over the pokéballs, then it stopped on one. Jeff picked it up and looked at the label. The label said, 'Squirtle: Tiny Turtle pokémon, Water-type, Kanto'.

Jeff though it over. Water-types were very useful, and Squirtle's final form, Blastoise, was probably one of the best all-around Water starters.

"I'll take this one."

"Fine choice," said Prof. Maple. "A formidable foe, and powerful ally."

"Do you say that to everybody?"

"Most of the time, yes."

"Oh, that gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling." Jeff muttered sarcastically.

"Now, if you would just step over here, and I'll scan your eye with your new Pokédex." Prof. Maple pulled out an ocean-blue Pokédex and pressed a button. A scanner popped out of the side. "Now, hold still." With one hand, the professor held Jeff's eyelid open, and with the other, she held up the Pokédex scanner. A bright wave of light passed over Jeff's eye, and it began to water. If the professor hadn't been holding it open, his eyelid would have snapped shut.

An electronic voice on the Pokédex read out, "Jeff Grayson. Age, Fourteen. Sex, Male. Hair Colour, Brown." Professor Maple snapped the Pokédex shut and the machine went quiet. "There, now it's registered to you." she handed it to Jeff. "It's yours now."

Jeff did his best he could to suppress a mad giggle.

"Are you the last person?" said the professor. Jeff nodded. "Alright, out you go." Jeff obeyed. "Wait!" she called after him. Jeff turned around to see her holding a pokéball.

"Oh. Right." Jeff walked back, took Squirtle's ball, and left sheepishly.

...

Craig was outside waiting for Jeff. "Well, we've got our starter pokémon. Now the only thing to do is BATTLE!"

Jeff shook his head. "Maybe we should wait a little while. I mean, you know, just toss out our pokémon and get to know them a little before we battle with them."

Craig, in return, rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine." Then he grinned. "I've wanted to do this since they put that law thing into effect. Go, Eelava!"

Craig pressed the button on his pokéball and it grew to maximum size, which was about the same as a good-sized orange. He clicked the button again and tossed it to the ground. The ball broke open horizontally at the middle line, and a flash of white light surged out of the ball. The light arced up, then back down onto the ground. It began to form a long, thin shape. As the light faded, it revealed a thin red eel, about a foot and a half long, and eight inches high, though it couldn't have been more than an inch thick. A row of yellow flames flickered down the length of its back, and its stomach was a dark red colour. It had big green eyes, making it look quite adorable. It had two tiny nostrils, but it didn't seem to have any mouth to speak of (or with). Then a tiny hole appeared below its nostrils, which, indeed, was the mouth, and it said, "Eelava."

That was it, but it was enough to get Craig attempting to smother the Baby Eel pokémon in love. His attempts were foiled by the flames on the eel's back. Jeff noticed that the eel seemed to be levitating about half an inch off the ground. He wondered why, and came to the conclusion that if it wasn't levitating, it would probably just flop over. Eelava began wriggling around, pushing its tail back and forth to propel itself forward through the air.

Craig squatted down in front of Eelava and spoke to him. "Hey, little buddy. I'm your Trainer, and you're my starter pokémon. We're going to go on adventures together and have loads of fun!"

Eelava responded to this by saying, "Eeeeel, eelava va eelva."

Craig, who wasn't very good at translating speech, turned his gaze to Jeff and asked, "What did he say?"

"He said, 'Please stop treating me like a baby; I'm a Baby Eel in name only."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Eee."

"He said that's okay."

"Thanks. Hey, aren't you going to let out your pokémon, too? What did you end up getting, by the way?" Craig stood up, carefully lifting Eelava as well, so the pokémon lay in his arms without setting them on fire.

Jeff smiled and took out the pokéball. "You'll see," he said as he peeled off the label. "Go!" he shouted, tossing the ball like Craig had done. The white light burst out, like before, and the shape it became was the Tiny Turtle pokémon, Squirtle. It was definitely a Squirtle, his brown shell, chubby blue body, and curled tail proved that.

As if that wasn't enough to prove it, Squirtle piped up, "Squirtle!"

"Aha, a Squirtle," said Craig. "Nice choice. Strong and steadfast. Good combination. But not as good as my Eelava!"

Squirtle looked at Jeff. "You're my Trainer, right?" he said, in pokémon speech of course.

"Uh, yeah," said Jeff.

"And we're supposed to go on a Journey around the region to collect badges and challenge the Tryotho League, is that right?"

"Only if I decide that's what I want to do."

"Okay, so then, isn't our first move supposed to be something like, fight some other Trainer?" Squirtle looked at Craig who was staring back at him. Eelava had responded badly to Craig picking him up, so he'd been put back down again. "See, he's got a pokémon."

"Yeah, but I don't want to humiliate him. He's only just got that pokémon."

"So did you," pointed out Squirtle.

"You're talking about me, aren't you?" said Craig, trying to stick up for himself.

"I'm glad you noticed. Give this man a lollipop," said Squirtle. "By the way, what's your name, anyway?"

"I'm Jeff Grayson, and that's my best friend Craig Stevenson. You seem to know a lot about this whole Pokémon Journey business. Is there, like, some kind of test to become a starter Pokémon or something?"

Squirtle shook his head. "After we've hatched, becoming a starter is kind of drilled into our heads. We're raised to about the same power, but its still pretty low. You wouldn't want a Squirtle that can decimate the competition _right_ away." Squirtle grinned.

"I know some lazy lard-buckets who do," said Jeff.

"I heard 'lazy lard-buckets'! Are you insulting me now?" Craig pointed his finger at Jeff like it was about to go off.

"Watch where you point that thing," said Jeff. "You know, if we're going out on our Pokémon Journeys, we should probably go home and say goodbye to our families." he hefted his backpack. "And get whatever we're bringing with us."

"'We'? 'Us'?" said Eelava sceptically.

"Well, yeah. Craig and I decided that we were going to go together a few months ago," Jeff explained.

"Oh. Okay then."

"We'll meet back here in half an hour," said Jeff, pointing at the ground. "Okay?"

"Okay then," said Craig. "Come on, Eelava, I'll take you to see my folks."

"Oh, boy, this should be fun," said Eelava, rolling his eyes.

Craig stopped and looked back at Jeff. "Did he just say something about popcorn?"

"No."

"I need to work on my speech skills."

"Yes, you do." said Eelava.

"He agrees with you."

...

Ten minutes later, Jeff's new backpack was all packed. His shoes were on, his hat was firmly on his head, and his mother was sobbing over him as if he'd gone and died.

"You're growing up," she said between sobs.

"Just like your sister," said Mr. Grayson.

"You mean my _older_ sister, right?" Jeff asked, looking at his baby sister, who was attempting to ride Mr. Gruff with disastrous results.

Mrs. Grayson blew her nose. "Well, be careful out there, dear. Don't talk to any strange Trainers."

"Sure, Mom. I'll battle them, but I won't say a word to them."

"Well, um, when you put it that way..."

Mr. Grayson put his hand on Jeff's shoulder. "Above all, have fun. This Journey only happens once a lifetime, you know."

"I will, Dad," said Jeff, grinning.

"Okay, can we go now?" asked Squirtle. "This whole sob-fest is getting me bored."

"Well, I'm on my way, now," said Jeff, opening the door. "Bye all!" and he left, looking back only once to see his mother flagging him off with her soiled handkerchief.

...

About twenty minutes later, Craig walked up the road towards the Lab, Eelava tagging along behind him.

"Sorry I took so long," he said. "My mother really dragged out the goodbye."

"No problem. We're here now, but not for long. Did you bring your bike?"

Craig shook his head. "Nah, it felt like cheating to start out from home with a bike. Don't know why, though."

"In any case, we'd better get moving. If we want to reach Earthgale by mid-afternoon, we'd better go."

"Righty-ho!" said Craig, and the two young boys set out north towards Earthgale City, taking the first step towards what was to be the most momentous event of their lives.

**(Don't worry, in the next chapter we'll get some** **action.)**


	3. 2: Not Egg Poachers

**Alright, chapter 2. Yeeha. BTW, just FYI (overuse of acronyms), I'm not treating PKMN like they're a bunch of data. They don't use levels, they don't use stats, they just know that they get more powerful when they fight other PKMN (That doesn't stand for Pikmin, FYI) and sometimes figure out how to use new moves. They also refer to how powerful the are by saying 'power level', meaning how strong they are. They don't say 'I'm level five', they say something like 'I've got a low power level'. Also, they don't just have four moves. The have four move **_**restrictions**_**, i.e. they're fighting a Gym Leader, or some other kind of 'official' battle with a ref and all that, and they can only use four moves, and once they say them, that's one of their moves. In the short form, it means the PKMN remember how to use all the moves they learn. Anyway, that's a long explanation, so I'll just say one thing before I go: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED! Now enjoy chapter two (and review, plz). **

Chapter 2: Not Egg Poachers

Jeff and Craig walked down Route 901. The route was like many others, bright green grass, and tall trees around. Behind the two boys, Eelava and Squirtle were socializing. The two pokémon had hit it off well, and were now chatting like they'd been friends for years. However, their Trainers were walking in silence. Craig had a sentence forming on his lips, but he wasn't saying anything. Jeff wondered why.

"Well?" Craig said at last, smiling.

"'Well' what?" asked Jeff.

"Are we going to battle or what?"

"Oh, oh, right," said Jeff. He unhooked Squirtle's ball from his belt and pointed it at him. "Return, Squirtle," he said. A beam of red light shot out of the ball and enveloped Squirtle. Once he had fully turned into energy, the beam retracted Squirtle back into his pokéball. Craig quickly did the same.

The two boys backed away from each other, forming an arena. "The edges of the arena are between those two trees," said Craig, pointing at a pair of trees on a direct diagonal with each other.

"Okay, then, Go, Squirtle!" shouted Jeff, throwing Squirtle's ball into the 'arena'. The ball broke open and released Squirtle in a flash of white light. After releasing its contents, the pokéball flashed backward into Jeff's hand, and he re-hooked it to his belt. Across the 'arena', Craig did the same with Eelava. The small red eel popped onto the field, ready for battle.

"Ah, good, some action. Finally," said Squirtle, flexing his fingers.

"I start!" shouted Craig. "Eelava, use..." he paused. "Wait a minute..." he checked his Pokédex to see what moves Eelava knew. Jeff took advantage of the moment to check his own Pokédex. _Squirtle knows Tackle and Tail Whip_, Jeff thought. _Typical starter pokémon._

"Eelava, use Tackle!" cried Craig across the arena. Eelava swiftly manoeuvred towards Squirtle and thrust himself into Squirtle's body with all the might his little body could muster. Squirtle staggered back a couple steps, but he seemed alright.

"Squirtle, use Tail Whip!" shouted Jeff. Squirtle dropped to all fours and began wiggling his tail at Eelava, who seemed drawn to it.

"Eelava, snap out of it!" said Craig. Eelava shook his head, which sent a ripple through his entire body, to clear it. "Good. Now use another Tackle!" Eelava wriggled forward again, but Squirtle managed to sidestep.

"Counter with your own Tackle!" cried Jeff. Squirtle followed the order, ramming into Eelava like a football player. Eelava was sent spinning backward, but he righted himself.

"Get him with another Tackle!" shouted Craig, and Eelava surged into Squirtle's body again. Squirtle managed to avoid the brunt of the attack by hiding in his shell, but the attack still managed to get through.

_This is kind of boring_, thought Jeff. _It's just two pokémon_ _trading Tackles._

"Hit him with one more Tackle!" cried Jeff. Case in point. Squirtle popped out of his shell and bashed into Eelava. Eelava was hit badly, but he managed somehow to get up.

"Hit him aga..." started Craig, but Jeff cried out, "Stop! Eelava's been hit enough. If he's gets hit again he'll go down. I think we're done. I win!"

"You're just saying that because you're winning and you want to stay that way," said Craig semi-bitterly, but he recalled Eelava anyway. He wanted to protect the little guy.

Jeff walked over to Craig and handed him a Potion he'd taken from his storage system before he left home. "Use this on Eelava. It'll fix him right up."

"Thanks," said Craig, accepting the Potion. He sent out Eelava and asked him where it hurt. Eelava replied with, "My gut stings something fierce." Jeff translated for his friend, and Craig sprayed Eelava's stomach. Eelava righted himself, and did a little spin to show he was feeling fine.

"This isn't over," said Craig. "We'll fight again, later, when we have quick access to a Pokémon Center so you can heal Squirtle when you _lose_."

"You make it sound like we're bitter rivals," said Jeff with a grin. "Come on, let's keep going."

...

About two hours later, Jeff and Craig arrived in Earthgale City, the closest city to Furrowseed Town, their hometown. This town was renowned for its large variety of uncommon pokémon that lived nearby, like Houndour and Gible. Tourists flocked in to catch pokémon that couldn't be found anywhere else in the region.

Today, though, the two friends weren't there on a pokémon catching spree. They were there to stop in, heal their pokémon, and move on to Cloam City. So, Jeff and Craig went into the Pokémon Center, where a Nurse Joy stood behind the counter. "Welcome to our Pokémon Center!" she said, grinning widely. "Would you like to heal your pokémon to full health?"

"Yes, please," said Jeff, recalling Squirtle and handing the ball over to the nurse. Craig did the same with Eelava.

"I'll take your pokémon for a moment, then." Nurse Joy placed the pokéballs into the Auto-Reco machine. The Auto-Reco (or Automatic-Recovery) machine healed pokémon's minor ailments, like if they had been hurt in battle, or had been knocked unconscious. If your pokémon had some sort of disease, or had been hurt extremely badly (broken bones, etc.), then they were taken into one of the back rooms for treatment. The Auto-Reco machine hummed, then made a _bing_ sound. Nurse Joy removed the two pokéballs and handed them back to their owners. "Your pokémon are fighting fit." she gave a little bow. "We hope to see you again!"

As they left, Craig looked at Jeff and said, "I've always wondered what they mean by that. Do they want the publicity, or do they want the business, or do they just like seeing hurt pokémon?"

"I think you're thinking this through a bit too much," said Jeff.

"Well, in any case, should we fight again?" asked Craig, maximizing Eelava's pokéball.

Jeff shook his head. "I think what we should do is go out of town and start to train our pokémon some more. I mean, we haven't even defeated a single pokémon with our pokémon yet."

Craig minimized the pokéball. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, then, do you want to go out and train some? Maybe catch some new pokémon? This spot is known for having a bunch of uncommon pokémon. Not quite rare, but not common like Bidoof and Caterpie."

"Yeah, there's one I'm looking for. I hope its around here somewhere," said Jeff as he and Craig began heading towards the town outskirts.

"Really? What kind?" asked Craig.

"A Houndour."

"Well, then, I think you're in luck," said Craig. "I've heard there are some Houndour around here somewhere. Me, though, I don't want any one in particular. I guess I'll just snoop around and see what kinds I can find."

"So, what, we'll split up and meet back there later, then?" asked Jeff, pointing towards the Poké Mart.

"Right. We'll split for, what, twenty minutes? Then meet back here in front of the Poké Mart." Craig tossed out Eelava, gave Jeff a little goodbye wave, then Trainer and pokémon ran off into the underbrush.

Jeff brought out Squirtle and explained what they were doing. Squirtle agreed that it sounded like a good idea, so they set off in the opposite direction from Craig to look for wild pokémon to battle.

It wasn't long before they found one. It was a measly Wurmple, but it was a pokémon and it was wild, and was therefore a moving target.

"Squirtle, take it down with Tackle!" Jeff shouted, while thinking, _You know, I'll be really glad once he learns moves _besides_ Tackle and Tail Whip._

Squirtle rammed himself into the Wurmple, which made an odd noise and butted him back wit its own Tackle. Squirtle seemed almost amused by how pitiful the attack was.

"Finish it with Tackle!" yelled Jeff, and so Squirtle did. Wurmple took the attack, squealed, and fainted.

"Yeah!" Jeff pumped his fist in triumph, although he hadn't had a doubt that Squirtle would win in the first place. And so they moved on, looking for more pokémon to battle, and maybe some to catch.

...

Fifteen minutes later, Jeff and Squirtle had defeated numerous Wurmple, three Rattata, and two Starly, but there was still no sign of anything uncommon. Just basic, run-of-the-mill boring pokémon not worth catching. Squirtle didn't mind, though, everything that wasn't a Houndour was fight fuel. He'd grown stronger already, and had figured out how to use Bubble all on his own. He was quite proud of that.

Jeff however, was not having as much fun. Squirtle was getting tired, he had no more Potions to heal him with, and he still hadn't found a Houndour to catch.

"Where are they?" he wondered aloud.

"What, the Houndour?" said Squirtle.

Jeff nodded. "I mean, really, I though the whole point of the tourist trade here was that people could _find_ uncommon pokémon that couldn't be found anywhere else. Seriously." He threw up his hands to help prove his point somehow. "Where are they?"

"Possibly over there?" said Squirtle, pointing towards a sign that said, 'HOUNDOUR RESERVE: THIS WAY'. It was pointing to the north.

"Oh," said Jeff, feeling rather stupid for not having seen the sign earlier. "Well, uh, I guess we should go that way, then,"

Jeff and Squirtle had gone only a few steps when suddenly, a tiny black puppy head with an orange muzzle poked out from behind a tree. A skull-like ornament sat on its head. Jeff froze. That was a Houndour. And, if he was lucky, it was alone, so he didn't have to contend with an entire pack of them. The Houndour walked forward, looking around for something. It barked, the lay down and whimpered softly. It hadn't spotted Jeff, which he took to be a stroke of luck.

He'd spoken too soon. The nostrils on the Houndour flared, and it shot to its feet, eyes wide and staring at Jeff. For a moment, neither moved. Neither wanted to make the first attack. Well, Jeff, didn't, but the Houndour was just too surprised to move. Then it turned tail and ran.

"Squirtle, come on, we're going after it!" Jeff shouted, breaking into a run.

"Right!" cried Squirtle, and stayed right in step behind Jeff. Who says turtles are slow?

...

The Houndour was scared out of its mind. First, it had been separated from its mother, now some strange poacher was chasing it, no doubt to kill it and wear its pelt as a trophy. The other little Houndour said that poachers were myths, just made up by mothers to get children to cooperate. 'Eat your kill or I'll get the poachers on you!' Or 'Go to sleep or the poachers will get you.' But now there was a poacher right there behind him, still chasing, with its dastardly deviously evil partner pokémon by its side.

The Houndour could see something ahead. It looked like the Houndour Reserve. He could get help there! He doubled his pace.

...

"He's trying to get away!" shouted Jeff. "Stop him with a Bubble!"

Squirtle nodded and called up some water bubbles on the run. He sprayed them forcefully, and they flew through the air to strike the Houndour in the back of the head. He went down.

"There! We've got him!" Jeff shouted, slinging off his backpack and pulling out an empty pokéball. He slung the backpack on again and looked up at the Houndour. It was gone; it had taken advantage of Jeff's being distracted and taken off. "Darn," muttered Jeff. "Come on, let's go! He's not getting away from us!"

"Um, you could let this little guy go and find another Houndour," said Squirtle, trying to offer a viable solution.

"This is the first Houndour I've found in fifteen minutes and we have to go back in less than five. I'm going to catch it!" Jeff was determined to catch the wild Houndour, so determined he was starting to get mad at the Houndour for not getting caught earlier, although that was a rather silly thing to get mad over.

...

The Houndour kept running. The back of his head stung with every step, but he kept going. That poacher wasn't going to have his pelt, no sir.

Then he heard the poacher yell, "I'm going to catch it!" and his heart plummeted. It was a Trainer. Trainers forced you into capsules against your will, then forced you to fight and be hurt, all for them. Trainers were just as evil as poachers. They prolonged your suffering.

The Houndour ran faster.

He dodged through the bushes and slipped between the trees. The Houndour Reserve was just ahead! He'd be safe there...

He ran into the clearing to find that what he had assumed to be the Houndour Reserve was instead a large cliff. How could he have mistaken that for the Reserve? He skidded to a stop at the edge and peered over. It was a twenty foot drop into a river. He was a dead pokémon if he jumped. The fall? He could take that. The river? Fire-types couldn't swim to save their lives, which, ironically enough, was probably the case.

He did the only thing he could. He lay down and whimpered.

...

Jeff and Squirtle ran into the clearing to find the Houndour sitting at the edge of a cliff, whimpering pitifully. Jeff's heart softened. He had been thinking about himself, how he wanted to have a Houndour, and not thinking about how the Houndour felt. Up close, he could see how small the Houndour was. It was barely a foot tall. Fully grown Houndour were 2 feet tall. This Houndour was still very young, perhaps three months old? He must have been separated from the rest of the pack. And if he caught him now, they wouldn't see him again. How terrible would that feel?

Jeff bent down and stroked the young pokémon's back. His head shot up, wide eyed and scared as all hell. "Shhh..." said Jeff, trying his best to soothe the frightened pokémon. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. If you don't want to come with me, then fine. That's okay. I'm sorry for chasing you."

The Houndour, still not totally trusting Jeff, stood up. He was panting hard, having not rested long. He stared warily at Jeff, then raised his head and howled mournfully. To him, he was saying, "I don't trust you."

Somewhere to the right, another few howls answered the lone Houndour's. The Houndour's ears perked up and he looked in the direction the howls came from. He howled again, this time more quizzically. More howls answered. They seemed closed this time, and sure enough, a pack of Houndour came bounding around the corner. Jeff took a moment wonder how he could have missed all these Houndour romping around the forest. One of the Houndour walked out of the pack and nuzzled the young one. He nuzzled her back, and Jeff assumed this was his mother. The mother Houndour looked at Jeff and barked, saying, "Thank you for recovering my baby."

Jeff smiled. He hadn't translated the bark, that was extremely hard, but the general message had got across. He turned to leave, regretting that he had never actually caught a Houndour.

A gunshot echoed out. Jeff whirled around to see the Houndour staring at a bullet hole in the ground. Jeff looked at where he guessed the shot came from, back in the forest. Two men, a skinny short one and a tall fat one, stood there holding guns. The fat one's gun was pointed at the Houndour. He clicked his tongue.

"I missed. Damn my luck, eh, Barry?"

The skinny one, who Jeff assumed to be Barry, rolled his eyes and raised his gun. "You've always been a terrible shot, Greg. Let me get them. I know where to shoot them so that the pelt isn't damaged and you can sell it for the max price."

A wave of panic swept through the Houndour. Poachers!

The fat one, Greg, spotted Jeff. "Hey, Barry. What should we do with this Kid and his pokémon? He's seen us, he's knows it's illegal to hunt pokémon, do we kill him or what?"

Jeff gulped. He couldn't do anything. If he moved, one of the poachers might shoot him. If he ordered Squirtle to attack, they'd shoot him, and it wouldn't do much against them anyway.

Barry eyed Jeff liked a tiger deciding whether or not the prey was worth the trouble. "We could kill him to keep him quiet, but that would make us murderers. We're not murderers."

_Yes, you are,_ thought Jeff.

Barry aimed his gun at Squirtle. "We could kill his pokémon. That would scare him into keeping quiet, eh?"

Greg smiled. It was a gruesome sight. He was a stereotypical bad guy, with disgusting teeth, no brains, bad hygiene, the works. "I could do that pretty easy."

Now Squirtle gulped.

"Nighty-night, kiddo," said Greg gleefully, and pulled the trigger.

It happened in less than a second, but it seemed to last an hour. The trigger was pulled, the bullet fired from the gun, and Squirtle shrank into his shell. The shell wouldn't help, though, it was designed to protect from pokémon attacks, not bullets fired from a gun. He was dead meat.

A small burst of fire shot forward and enveloped the bullet. When it struck Squirtle, it was little more than a chunk of scrap metal. Squirtle poked his head out of his shell to see why hadn't died yet, and saw the young Houndour standing in a battle position, fangs bared and legs splayed out for balance. He growled menacingly.

The other Houndour, seeing this young pup being braver than his elders, turned on the poachers and called up fire of their own.

"Oh, that's not good," said Greg.

The Houndour released their Embers as a group, setting the poachers on fire. They began yelping and hopping in circles to try and put the fire out. After a moment they clued in and began rolling around on the ground.

"Squirtle, Tackle them both!" Jeff shouted, finding his voice again. Squirtle, managing to stand after his brush with death, ran forward, and at the last second turned around so he smashed into Barry's head with his shell, knocking him unconscious. Greg stood and tried to run away, but Squirtle leaped forward and hit him square in the back, knocking him to the ground. The Houndour pack rushed in around them, growling and making sure neither tried to stand up.

The young Houndour snorted and trotted over to his mother. Jeff spotted him and walked over to him. He squatted down to eye level with him and said, "Sorry for chasing you earlier." he stuck out his hand to shake. "Friends?" The Houndour said and did nothing. "Acquaintances?" Still nothing. "Non-enemies?" The Houndour placed his paw in Jeff's hand. Jeff shook it with a grin. "In that case, uh, would you, by any chance, want to go on a Pokémon Journey with me?"

The Houndour shook his head no.

"Oh. Okay then, well, I guess I'll be seeing you, then." he stood up. "Come on, Squirtle, we've got to go into town and tell officer Jenny that these two are here. And meet with Craig." Jeff and Squirtle walked off into the forest, not looking back.

...

The young Houndour looked at where the Trainer and his Squirtle had disappeared. His first thought was, _I'm glad they finally left._ But then he thought about it, and the two of them were really nice guys. The Trainer was sincerely concerned when his Squirtle was threatened, and he hated to see anyone suffer, so he helped them with and Ember.

He thought it over and looked at his mother. She gave him a look that said, "It's your decision, don't foist this on me." So he thought it over, and there probably wasn't going to be another really genuinely good Trainer like him. He looked at his mother again and gave a little nod. She nodded back. The little black puppy ran off to find the human. His mother watched him go sadly, but she knew it was his own decision.

...

Jeff managed to find his way back into town without a problem. The police station wasn't very hard to find either, so he was able to report to the local Officer Jenny easily. She sent out a squad to arrest the two men immediately. After reporting, Jeff went back to in front of the Poké Mart. While he was there, he bought a few Potions, just in case. When he came back out again, Craig was standing there looking pleased with himself.

"Hey Craig," Jeff greeted him. "What's with the grin?"

"I caught a pokémon!" he said grinning even wider.

"Oh really? What kind?" asked Jeff, although Craig was making him feel inferior. _Craig_ had caught a pokémon but he hadn't.

"It's a Cubone!"

"WHAT?" shouted Jeff. "Seriously? They have wild Cubone here? I didn't know that! Where'd you find it?"

"In a cave. There was the random cave built into the side of a mountain–" He would have said more, but Jeff interrupted. "That was probably the Craggy Mountain Range. It goes from here to Aridert town, and they even built Cloam city right in the middle of one of the mountains."

"_As I was saying..._" said Craig impatiently. "I went into the cave, dodging hundreds of Zubat that swarmed me, and absolutely destroyed them with Eelava."

"There was probably only one in the first place," Jeff replied.

"Shut up! I'm telling the story, not you. So I went in further, and I saw that there were a bunch of Cubone wandering all over the place."

"What, really?"

"No, I'm lying." Craig remarked sarcastically.

"Well, I can never tell with you, alright?"

"Anyway, I had Eelava use Ember–"

"Oh, so he learned Ember in that fight with the Zubat, or possibly Zubat_s_?"

"Will you stop interrupting? So, he used Ember, injuring one of the Cubone. The rest of them ran away, leaving me free to capture it in a pokéball."

Jeff nodded. "So, can I see it then?"

Craig pointed at Jeff. "First, where's that Houndour you were getting?"

"Well, I didn't end up actually catching one. I found some, but I...couldn't catch one."

Craig shrugged. "Well, that's too bad. Maybe you'll find one on our way out of town. First we should heal our pokémon, though."

So, after a quick rest stop at the Pokémon Center, Jeff and Craig set out again, heading for Cloam City, the city which was built directly into a mountain.

...

A few minutes after they left Earthgale, Jeff spotted something lying on Route 902. He jogged forward to see what it was, and lo and behold, it was the young Houndour, waiting for him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked it.

The Houndour gave the doggy equal of a shrug. "I figured that you seem like a nice enough guy, nicer than many of the other snobby rich assholes who come and catch up all my friends. Unlike them, you seem to genuinely care about your pokémon. So, I figured I'd join up with you, so I can avoid getting captured by one of the rich snobs and actually have someone who cares if I get hurt."

Jeff hadn't heard the little Houndour speak before, so it was a bit of a shock to hear him say so much (and swear) in one sentence.

"Well, pff, okay then," said Jeff, reaching for the empty pokéball he'd hooked to his belt. He tossed it at the Houndour and the red light engulfed him, drawing him into the ball. It rocked back and forth, the button pulsing red. The a small _ding_ was heard, and the ball stopped rocking. Jeff picked it up, looked at it a moment, and hooked it back onto his belt.

"There you go, you caught one," said Craig, slapping him on the back.

"Yeah," said Jeff. "I just didn't expect him to be so...well, rude."

"He's a Dark-type. He's going to be a little rude," said Craig with a smile.

"I guess you're right," said Jeff. "Come on, Cloam City's the first town with a Gym!"

"Yeah!" shouted Craig. "Let's go!"

So, with new pokémon at their belts, Jeff and Craig set out for Cloam City. What new things await them there? How will their new pokémon take to them? Find out in the next chapter of...this!

**Yes, I put in that narrator guy from the end of the TV show at the end there. So sue me.**


	4. 3: Battling in the Rain Well, Not Re

**Today, we get to read about a battle. Whoopee! Originality! Ah, well. It's a tried-and-true method, I guess. ^-^ By the way, if you are reading this, thank you! Really, this story got stuffed so far down into the Pokemon Fanfiction Archive, it wasn't even funny. Also, please review. I really like to hear reviews about how I can make the story better. Also it makes me think that people are reading it. Okay, read away and enjoy!**

Chapter 3: Battling in the Rain (Well, Not Really)

"Okay, so what's this I hear about a giant mountain?" asked Craig.

"I told you, Cloam City is built inside a mountain. Mount Squall, to be precise. It's named because of all the weather the summit gets. Lightning, hail, typhoons, exploding fish encased in ice, you name it, they've probably got it." Jeff explained. Jeff and Craig were currently on Route 903. They had left the forests of Route 902 behind and were now experiencing the joys of pouring rain. Squirtle was loving it, but Eelava had been recalled for safekeeping. Too much water of any kind wasn't good for Fire-types.

"As long as it's indoors, I'm happy. Jeez, are we there yet?" Craig whined, shielding the top of his head with his arms.

"You should be able to tell. I mean, really, it's not raining that hard. No, we aren't there yet."

"How about now?"

"Um, no."

"Now?"

"Okay, now you're just screwing with me, aren't you?"

"For the most part, yes."

Squirtle, to the best of Jeff's knowledge, was dancing along behind them, singing the tune of 'Singing in the Rain' off-key.

In order to drown out his awful wailing, Jeff decided to reveal some folklore about the mountains. "Supposedly, the Legendary pokémon Maelstrogue is sealed near the summit, in order to keep his weather powers in check. Two of the other three mountains, Mount Crenel and Mount Nautica, are also supposed to have his brothers sealed in them, Firogue and Hydrogue respectively."

"Then who's Mount Craggy got, then?" Craig asked.

"I don't know. Personally, I don't think there's even any pokémon sealed in there. Hey, who's that?" Jeff pointed up ahead. A young man stood next to a shack, waving to them. He looked about their age, so they went over to him.

"Why are you standing out here in the rain, man?" Craig asked the boy.

"I'm waiting for Trainers to come by so I can battle with them," the boy said. He pointed at Squirtle. "Obviously, at least one of you is a Trainer."

"Yeah, we're both Trainers," said Jeff.

The boy smiled and grabbed a pokéball from his belt. He gestured to the shack. "Then would you like to come inside and battle?"

Jeff and Craig exchanged a look. This would only take about ten minutes, and they had loads of time before the sun went down. They could do this and get to Cloam City before nightfall. All that was left was to decide which of them battled this kid. So, naturally, they brought out the good old rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock paper scissors!" they two boys said, shaking their fists. Jeff drew scissors, but Craig drew rock. "Ahaha," Craig laughed a pseudo-evil laugh. "I get to battle you."

"Okay, then," the boy said. "I'm Bernard. You?"

"I'm Craig, and he's Jeff," Craig said, entering the shack. Jeff followed, and lastly Bernard entered and shut the door. Jeff suddenly realized how wet he was, and shook all over like a dog.

A few raps were heard on the door. Jeff opened it to see Squirtle glaring at him. "Oh, sorry," Jeff said. Squirtle said nothing and walked into the shack.

The shack was a relatively small thing, with a chalk arena on the floor and a window pointing into the forest. Jeff could see a Starly flitting about in the forest outside. It came over and sat on the outdoor windowsill, seemingly interested in the upcoming battle.

"How many pokémon do you have?" asked Bernard, walking to the far end of the room.

"Two," replied Craig, standing at his end of the pre-drawn arena. "Hey, Jeff, could you act as referee?"

"Sure. By the way, Bernard," said Jeff. "How'd you get this shack? Did you build it or what?"

Bernard shook his head. "I found this old deserted thing, and I figured I'd use it for training my pokémon against anyone who came along."

"Okay then. Trainers ready pokéballs!" Jeff shouted, like the refs on TV. Craig and Bernard maximized their first pokéball. "Go!" he shouted, and the competitors threw their pokéballs into the chalk arena.

Craig's ball exploded into Eelava, who spun on the spot and cried his name. Meanwhile, across the field, Bernard's ball became a tiny blue seahorse with a long snout, a curled tail, and a single fin on its back. It was levitating above the ground, just like Eelava.

_Horsea?_ thought Jeff. _Uh-oh. Craig's pokémon_ _are both weak to Water. That's not a good thing for him._ Apparently, Craig was thinking something of the same thing, as he visibly gulped.

"Eelava, Tackle!" shouted Craig. He was trying to get the preemptive strike, possibly eliminate the opponent before he could get an attack in. Unfortunately, Horsea swiftly swerved left, leaving Eelava wide open to an attack.

"Horsea, Bubble!" Bernard pointed forcefully. Horsea bunched up its snout, like it was taking in a breath, then sprayed a mouthful of bubbles at Eelava. It looked almost identical to Squirtle's version. The bubbles struck Eelava square in the face, dazing him and threatening to knock him out with the first blow. Eelava managed to snap out of it and squirm away from Horsea before he could deliver another strike.

"Eelava, Tackle again!" commanded Craig. Even though it failed the first time, he was trying it again. Eelava rushed Horsea again, but there wasn't as much force behind it; Eelava was too weak. Luckily, he actually hit Horsea, right in the chest. Unluckily, it set him up for another Bubble. Eelava wormed away as fast as he could, but it wasn't enough. Without a command from Bernard, Horsea spewed bubbles again. Eelava heard them coming this time, and flopped to the ground, on his side. Jeff snapped his fingers. _Right! When Eelava's on the floor like that, he's only an inch tall! The bubbles just pass over him!_ And pass they did. Eelava got up again, and after shaking his head, shot back again to hit Horsea.

"Dodge it, Horsea!" shouted Bernard. Horsea tried to oblige, but Eelava was too fast. Luckily for Bernard, the attack didn't knock Horsea out, just send him spinning back a foot. He countered with some bubbles, and these bubble actually met their mark. Eelava was knocked over, but he managed to stand up wearily.

"Enough with the Bubbles, already!" shouted Craig angrily.

"Sorry," said Bernard. "It's the only offensive move he knows." Horsea gave Craig an indignant look. "Look, just for a change, I'll use Smokescreen!" Horsea quickly obeyed the order, spewing a cloud of pitch-black smoke over the field. No one could see a thing, even Horsea, making the move rather kamikaze.

Inside the cloud of smoke, Jeff heard the sound of a few bubbles popping, then immediately after, a cry of pain. Beside him, Squirtle raised his eyebrows. "Hey, was that the sound of Eelava getting his butt handed to him?"

"Maybe," said Jeff. "It's hard to tell with all this smoke. I can't make the loss official until I can see it."

A grunt of pain was heard. Then, more popping bubbles, and another cry of pain.

"Hey!" shouted Craig. "Eelava's probably fainted in there, or close to it! Stop hitting a man when he's down!"

"You're taking this well," said Jeff.

"What?"

"It's your first loss, but there's no tears, no tantrums, nothing."

"Well, duh. I'm fourteen. I'm more mature than that."

"Then what do you call it when your team lost in basketball last week? Washing your eyes?"

"Shut up."

The smoke was beginning to clear, or so Jeff thought. As more of it dissipated, though he could see that it was actually Horsea sucking up the smoke. "He needs to remove the smoke himself or he can't use it again for a week," explained Bernard. "He's not very good at using that move yet."

"Apparently," muttered Craig. After the smoke was all cleared, there stood Horsea, standing over Eelava. He didn't move.

Jeff suddenly remembered who was acting as referee. "Eelava is unable to battle! Horsea wins!"

"Dammit," murmured Craig. He recalled Eelava and took out his other pokéball. He looked at it sadly, like he was seeing an old friend off to war. The he tossed it into the arena, shouting, "Go, Cubone!"

The ball popped open, and out came a small, almost mole-like pokémon with a skull on its head and a femur bone in his right hand. He looked up at his opponent and shrieked in terror.

It was almost humorous, this little timid pokémon with this god-awful noise coming out of its mouth. If it weren't so sad and pathetic. The little guy then hunkered down, wrapped his arms around his head, and began to cry. The crying made its skull rattle, adding to the noise.

Horsea looked at his Trainer, not quite sure what to do. His opponent was _crying!_ That hadn't happened before. Even Craig didn't know what to do. He squatted down and looked at Cubone on his eye level. "Um, hello?" he asked cautiously.

"GO AWAY!" the Lonely Pokémon squealed.

"Um...what?" asked Craig to Jeff.

"He wants you to go away," Jeff explained.

"But why?"

"YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY CLAN! YOU'RE EVIL! I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WOULD DIE! GO AWAY!"

"He hates you for taking him away and, um...wishes you would die."

Craig scratched his head. "Well, that's a lousy first impression. Listen, Cubone, I'm not going to hurt you. If you don't want to fight, that's fine. I'll release you and you can go home."

It reminded Jeff a lot of the conversation he'd had with Houndour. _Deja vu all over again_, he thought.

Cubone looked up at Craig. "Um, actually, I think I'll stay here with you a while, see how things go."

Craig stared at him. "Are you, like, bipolar or something?"

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "You're getting better at translating pokémon speech."

"Yeah, but I still think he said 'Actually, I think I'll PANCAKES with you a while, see how WAFFLES."

"Okay, now it's just your obsession with breakfast cakes."

Cubone shrugged. "Well, now I've thought it over, and the best way for me to make new friends is to go with a Trainer. We Cubone, we're the Lonely pokémon, so we don't have very many friends. Even in our own clans, we normally just fend for ourselves. Also, practically all pokémon get caught sooner or later, so if you've caught me, I guess I have to be alright with that.

Jeff nodded. "Most pokémon are caught against their will, like this guy. However, for some, it's their dream to travel with a Trainer. I...guess this guy is both."

"But, 'To go with a popcorn?' That doesn't make sense."

"He said Trainer, not popcorn."

"Oh. Well, in any case, if at any time you don't want to go along with me anymore, just say so." Craig stood up. "So, then, what moves do you know?"

"Uh, Tail Whip and Growl," Cubone said, nodding.

Craig stared dumbly at Cubone. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Cubone asked.

Craig smacked himself in the face. "_Seriously?_" he shouted. "You don't even know an attack like, you know, Tackle or Bone Club or something? The simple ones? They're so easy! Tackle, you just ram into the guy, and Bone Club, you hit them with the bone! Simple!"

Cubone looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as one could look behind that mask. "I guess I never really thought about it. In our clans, most of the enemies we have are just weak Zubat, so a Growl is enough to scare them away. We don't have to fight."

"Brilliant," said Craig. "My only hope is a youngster who doesn't even know how to attack." Cubone looked like he was about to cry again, so Craig quickly said, "I didn't really mean that like an insult or anything."

"I...I'll just try and improvise or something," said Cubone. "Sorry."

"If you're done," interjected Bernard. "Horsea and I are ready to fight." Horsea picked himself up from where he was resting and nodded vigorously.

Craig sighed. "Okay, then, Cubone, try a Tail Whip."

Cubone dropped to all fours and stuck his tail in the air. He began wiggling it back and forth, catching Horsea's attention. Horsea followed every movement like he was being hypnotized.

"Horsea, snap out of it!" shouted Bernard. Horsea blinked twice and shook his head. "Good. Now Bubble!" Horsea spat some more blue bubbles at Cubone who yelped in surprise and hunkered down into a defensive position. Surprisingly, the bubbles struck the helmet he wore, dealing him minimal damage.

"Um...Improvise!" shouted Craig. Cubone rushed at his opponent, flailing wildly with his bone club. His eyes were squeezed shut. He bashed into Horsea at full speed, continuing to wildly swing his club back and forth with all the might he could muster. After Horsea finally pulled away, he looked quite worse for wear. Cubone, on the other hand, seemed amazed that he'd done that damage himself. Craig seemed surprised too, but then he smiled.

"Do that again!" he called, and Cubone charged forward again, thrashing wildly into Horsea.

_Thrash_, thought Jeff. _That's it! Cubone's probably using Thrash! The_ _pokémon that uses the move just randomly smashes random parts of their body into the opponent! Cubone's subconsciously learned it! I guess Craig must be a better Trainer than I thought._ _Most Cubone don't learn Thrash until much later in their training. _Then Jeff remembered something else about the move. _After using it three times, the user becomes so tired that it begins to hallucinate, what we call a state of Confusion. If Craig doesn't realize what Cubone's doing, he could be in trouble..._

Horsea was definitely getting pummelled. He couldn't move, let alone get a move in edgewise, with this continuous stream of attacks pouring in on him. Bernard was calling commands, but Horsea didn't have the time to act on them.

With a final blow from Cubone's club, Horsea fell to the ground, clearly out of it. "Horsea is unable to battle. Cubone is the winner!" Jeff commentated, gesturing to each pokémon in turn. Cubone did a happy dance, and Craig pumped his fist.

Bernard, on the other hand, frowned. Obviously, when he had seen Cubone pop out, he'd been expecting an easy win. However, Craig was putting up much more of a fight than he'd thought he would. He unhooked his second pokéball and maximized it.

"Go, Pupoisn!" he shouted, throwing his ball into the arena. It opened up in a flash of white to reveal a small purple puppy, cute as a button, with pink pads on his paws, a short jagged tail, and small, pink triangles on its ears, which were rather rounded and perched, alert and ready, on top of its head. This was another Tryotho region specific.

Jeff got out his Pokédex to check out the data on Pupoisn. Hey, he had it, why not use it? The Pokédex beeped twice before reading the data in a somewhat metallic, female voice. "Pupoisn," it began. "The Toxic Puppy pokémon. Pupoisn live in packs, with their pack leader being a Mutoxin, their evolved form. Pupoisn are cute, but dangerous in battle." Jeff shut off the Pokédex, shoved it in his pocket, and returned his gaze to the battle at hand.

Bernard wasted no time in giving the newcomer his first command. "Pupoisn, use Scratch!" The Toxic Puppy bounded forward, tongue lolling out of its mouth to one side. Its bright eyes indicated that it was happy to be there. Cubone jumped backward as it neared him, but Pupoisn slashed forward with his claws, catching Cubone on the arm. Luckily, the scratch wasn't deep, and Cubone wasn't badly hurt.

"Improvise!" shouted Craig. Cubone leaped forward, catching Pupoisn by surprise. Cubone knocked into it and brought it to the ground. He then began to wail away on it with every fibre of his being. Pupoisn managed not to get any direct blows to the face, but its body was being solidly thrashed. Literally.

Pupoisn managed to curl in his legs, then kick Cubone in the stomach, driving the air out of him. As he tried to regain it, Pupoisn slipped out from under him. Cubone stumbled backward, taking deep, gasping breaths, then regained his composure, swaying a bit.

_That's the third time_, thought Jeff._ Cubone's probably in a state of Confusion right now. This isn't good for Craig..._

"Tail Whip!" Bernard shouted. Pupoisn stuck his frizzy tail up high, presenting Bernard with a lovely view of his butt, and wagged it.

"Don't look, Cubone!" Craig averted his eyes, although Jeff didn't know why. Cubone seemed to be looking everywhere _but_ at Pupoisn's tail. After a few seconds of this, Pupoisn realised it wasn't working, and looked at Bernard for new commands.

"Scratch him instead, then." Bernard said, and Pupoisn happily obliged. It leaped at Cubone, ready to swipe, but when it did so, Cubone wasn't there. He was on the floor, looking dazed. Pupoisn scratched there, but Cubone stood up, clearly not all there, and it missed again.

"Nice dodging, Cubone!" shouted Craig. "Now hit him with that again!" Cubone stepped forward to follow the command, but then suddenly took a left and started walking that way. Seemingly convinced that his opponent was the wall, he raised his club and ran headlong into it. He bounced off, still looking dazed.

"What's wrong, Cubone?" Craig asked nervously.

"I don't know," said Cubone. "I could swear he was right there, where I hit the wall..."

"Are you hallucinating? He's over there, in the middle of the arena!" Craig pointed. "And what's with you saying toilet every few words?"

"I didn't," said Cubone, right before he was scratched in the back. The attack surprised him, knocking him forward a couple steps. He whirled around to look at Pupoisn, the began hitting him with all the might he could muster. Sadly, Pupoisn had jumped back a few steps and Cubone was attacking empty air.

"Cubone!" Craig shouted. Cubone shook his head and looked around, blinking wildly. His confusion was over. "He's over there!" Craig pointed at Pupoisn again, and Cubone charged him. Pupoisn's happy-go-lucky features quickly dropped off his face, and he turned tail and fled. The two ran around the field for a good minute before Cubone caught up with him. He hooked his club under Pupoisn's back legs, tripping him. He then proceeded to thrash him with the rest of his remaining power. As he finished, he slumped backward, resting on his club, all strength spent. Pupoisn, on the other hand, seemed too scared to get up, not unconscious. As long as he was lying on the ground, though, Jeff had to begin the count. So he did.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" Pupoisn still didn't stand up, although he looked as though he could still run for a few miles before falling down. Maybe he just didn't want to get subjected to Thrash anymore. In any case... "Nine! Ten! Pupoisn is unable to battle! Cubone is the winner! The match goes to Craig!"

Cubone said nothing, but Jeff got the feeling that under his mask, he was smiling. Craig did a victory dance, which involved moon-walking and fist-pumping, over to him, then recalled him. Bernard recalled his own pokémon, then walked over to Craig and extended his hand. "Nice match. I hope that we can battle again someday when our pokémon have each gotten stronger."

"Same," said Craig. He shook the hand and smiled.

Bernard looked out the window. "Ah, perfect. The rain has stopped. Er, before you go, please use this." He reached into his bag and pulled out a portable Auto-Reco machine. As the name suggested, it was an Auto-Reco machine that a Trainer could take with them. It ran on batteries, which became power, which re-energized the pokémon inside the pokéballs placed in it. Craig placed his in it, and so did Bernard. Then he pressed the start button, the machine whirred, then dinged, and they removed their pokémon. "Alright," said Bernard. "I hope to see you later."

"Same," said Craig, and he and Jeff left, Squirtle silently trailing behind them.

...

As the trio left, the Starly that had been sitting on the windowsill since the beginning of the battle flew away. As he did so, he thought to himself, _So, Jeff Grayson has a powerful ally in Craig. That's a very good thing. He'll need all the firepower he can muster when the Elder's Day comes._

He flew upward, straight upward, for a moment, before his body began to waver, like a faulty television image, then winked out of this realm entirely.


	5. 4: Cloam City At Last!

**Ah, Chapter 4 is up. Yahoo. Let the banners fly and the good times roll. Nobody does much in this chapter, but we meet an important character in this chapter. Yay. Sorry, I'm just really tired and I have no energy right now. SQUIRTLE! There. I said something funny. The chapter's still good, though. My lack of energy did not transfer over to my writing. I'm going to go take a nap now.**

Chapter 4: Cloam City at Last

An hour after Craig had battled with Bernard, a mountain began to loom ahead. "That's Mount Squall," said Jeff, pointing. "We be in Cloam City in less than half an hour."

Eelava had been let back out again, now that the rain had stopped, though he wasn't much fun to be around at the moment. He was quite sulky at losing his first Trainer battle.

"Cheer up," Squirtle told him. "You had a type disadvantage. I was surprised you managed to hold out for as long as you did."

"I still didn't win," moped Eelava.

"Yeah, well, you know what they say. 'You can't win them all.'"

"I could have at least won my first real match! Like, ever!" Eelava then refused to say anything else, or even respond when Squirtle made a funny face to try to cheer him up.

A few minutes later, the hugeness of Mount Squall was towering over them. Up near the summit, dark clouds were gathering, and an occasional flash of light was seen, but, oddly, no thunder, making Jeff wonder if it was lightning or something else entirely.

A eight-foot-high doorway was carved into the mountain, leading deep inside. The edges of the doorway seemed like they were once very ornate, but now were covered with crude carvings and graffiti made by teenagers. Jeff noticed this as he stepped through. Inside, it was illuminated by lanterns, like those that you might see in a mine. Eelava provided his own light, so the cave was lit up well. The main part of the cave seemed to be a long corridor, wide enough to allow 8 people to walk through side-by-side with room to spare.

"I think I see a big light source ahead," said Craig. Sure enough, up ahead was an enormous, brightly lit cavern. "I'll bet you anything that's Cloam City." Revitalised by the knowledge that their quarry was just ahead, the two boys broke into a run, their pokémon scurrying along behind them.

As they reached the inner cavern, they found that it was, indeed Cloam City. The entrance to the city was a long slope downward. The city was set deep into the ground to allow tall buildings to rise up. The source of the light was an enormous lantern, which seemed to be set into a track. Jeff recalled something he'd done in history about this city: being set into a mountain, the founders of the city created a huge ball to act as the sun. It would move across the ceiling, then, as it reached the other side, it would fade out into night-time, and make its way back across to the other side. In all, the creation of the city was a fifty-year project, thirty years to carve out the cavern, and twenty years for it to rise to the city-status it held now. The cavern, by the way, was a couple of kilometres across, about twelve or thirteen. The mountain itself was enormous, the perfect place to store something gigantic, like a city. The amazing part was, the summit of the mountain was hundred of kilometres away. The digging team had barely scratched the inside of the mountain. Jeff and Craig began to walk down the slope towards the Pokémon Center. For Trainers, the Pokémon Center was the best place to go for information on everything; great places to eat, reasonable hotels, and other information about the city, like what kind of pokémon their Gym Leader specialized in, etc.

The automatic doors to the Pokémon Center slid open with a hiss, and Jeff and Craig stepped in. Craig threw his arms wide and sucked in a deep breath. "Ahhhh!" he breathed. "Smell that inside-of-a-mountain air."

"Fresh as a week-old banana," joked Squirtle. In truth, the air wasn't very stale at all, although you'd expect it to be inside a mountain. The fumigation shafts helped keep the air fresh, so people weren't breathing the same air over and over.

Nurse Joy stepped up to the counter. "Hi! Welcome to our Pokémon Center. Would you like to heal your pokémon?"

"No thanks," said Jeff. "Actually, we were wondering if you knew about some interesting places in town, you know, for eating and sleeping and stuff."

Nurse Joy nodded thoughtfully. "The Chateau Element is right across the street, and you can get rooms here for an extremely low price. Only 100 pokédollars a night."

A sudden thought struck Jeff. "Why are they called pokédollars? Wouldn't it just make more sense to just call them dollars? I mean, what other kinds of dollars are there? Treedollars?"

Craig shrugged. "In any case, we'd like a room for two. Separate beds, please."

Nurse Joy nodded and typed something into the computer next to her. "Alright, you have room 201. First room on the second floor."

"Redundancy!" Jeff coughed into his hand.

"What?"

"Nothing. Room 201?"

"Yes. Here are your keys." the nurse handed Jeff and Craig a card key for their room each. Jeff slipped his into his wallet, and Craig did the same. Jeff then pulled a 50-pokédollar bill out of said wallet and gave it to Nurse Joy. Craig did too.

"Well, now what do we want to do?" said Jeff.

"Training sounds good," said Craig. "We could use a little practice." Eelava nodded vigorously.

"I like the sound of food," said Squirtle.

"What?" said Craig. "What do snow and chicken have to do with this?"

"He said he's hungry," explained Jeff.

"Oh. I knew that. Really, I did. I was just messing with you. Seriously."

Eelava seemed to be reconsidering. "Well, I could go for something to eat. I'm a bit hungry."

Craig rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll go eat. Joy said that there was a restaurant next door, right? Chateau Mini-Mart or something."

"Chateau Element. I've heard of it. It's a place you can go with your pokémon. There's a room for each type, like a Fire-room, a Ground-room, etcetera, each based around it's type, like the Water room is full of water. If we're going there, which room should we take?"

"We-e-ell..." mused Craig. "We've got two Fire-types, so let's go to that room."

Eelava cheered. Squirtle groaned. "Aw, come on, can't we go to the Water room instead?"

"No, we're going to the Fire room and that's final," said Jeff. He walked towards the automatic door, which slid open with a pneumatic hiss, and stepped outside.

Jeff took a moment to just look at the city-scape of Cloam city. The buildings were mostly steel, but some seemed to be made entirely out of glass, or chrome, even. A huge building stood in what Jeff assumed was the center of the city, spiking upwards, then tapering off into a point. A dome separated the main building from the spike on top, looking very ornate. Jeff didn't understand what the building was for, but it looked good, in any case. Craig stepped up beside him. "What are you looking at?"

Jeff pointed at the building. "That. Do you know what it's for?"

Craig shrugged. "Can't say I do. Though, if I had to make a guess, it's probably the place that governs the whole cavern stuff. Looks important, and the most important thing around here would be maintenance, I bet."

"Ah. Hey, I just thought of something. If the Water room is covered in water, then the Fire room..."

Craig shook his head. "Uh, no, that's just way too dangerous."

"Good. Then let's go eat." Jeff strode across the street towards the building, whose sign read "Chateau Element' in big rainbow-coloured letters. He pushed open the door and was quickly greeted by a waitress wearing a permanent smile.

"Welcome! Table for four?" she said, looking at the two humans and their pokémon.

Craig shook his head again. "Nope, six, please."

The waitress nodded and asked, "Which room would you like?"

"The Fire room," said Jeff. The waitress gave him an odd look, then turned and began to walk away. Craig and Jeff followed. They were led to a large orange door, which the waitress opened for them. A blast of stuffy hot air surged out of the room inside, causing them all to gasp for breath. "E...enjoy..." said the waitress, her smile faltering momentarily. Jeff and Craig stepped inside.

The room itself was painted shades of red and yellow, with a bit of a bluish tinge near the floor. A chandelier with candles hung from the ceiling, casting light over the walls and making them seem to shimmer and dance, like real fire. Moderately-sized holes lined the edges of the fairly large room. As Jeff watched, every twelve seconds, the holes shot a blast of hot air into the room, like geysers. The tables were nothing special, just round ones with chairs. The air was stuffy and hot, as mentioned above, probably because of the geysers and the enormous hearth at one side of the room. A few Fire-types sat around the flames, soaking up the heat like a human suntanning at the beach. Jeff spotted a table set for six and sat down. Craig followed suit, and Squirtle hopped up beside Jeff. Craig reached down, picked up Eelava and set him on the seat next to him. Both boys pulled out their other pokéball and opened it. Cubone and Houndour both popped out. Cubone sat and did nothing, while Houndour yawned and blinked sleepily.

"Why is it so hot in here?" he asked lazily.

"We're in the Fire room at Chateau Element, specifically for you and Eelava," said Squirtle. "You'd better be liking it; I can't stand it, myself."

"I do, so we're staying. Give me something to eat already." And with that remark, Houndour curled up and went to sleep.

"He knows nothing about tact, but he's kinda cute when asleep," Jeff said, smiling.

"I'm not asleep yet," snapped Houndour. "And I'm not cute. See these fangs?" he bared them without opening his eyes. "They are for ripping. Tearing. Killing. Killing machines are not cute. Do you find Tyranitar 'cute'? No? Didn't think so. Now stop talking to me so much."

Houndour's breathing slowed and regulated, he was definitely asleep now. "Cute," whispered Squirtle, just to check for sure. Houndour growled sleepily.

"You know, Squirtle, you think you've got it rough, look at that pokémon over there, with the redhead." Craig pointed. A table away, a girl wearing a blue shirt and a purple jacket was sitting with her Growlithe, her Blosprig (remember? The Tryotho region Grass-type starter?), and her Sneasel. The Sneasel was slumped on the table, tongue hanging out, panting. The Growlithe looked happy, though. The girl looked over, and the boys looked away.

"She's cute," said Jeff.

"Definitely, but that's not what I was talking about. That Sneasel? Ice-type. Ice plus fire equals water. That Sneasel is probably melting in here. Well, not quite literally, but it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe a bit."

"Craig, stop talking," said Jeff. "Now let's hurry up and order."

...

About an hour later, after they had ordered, eaten, and paid up (Jeff and Craig got separate bills), Jeff and Craig made to leave. The Fire room was...unusual, but that wasn't to say the two left without sighs of relief and mopped brows. Eelava didn't seem to mind; neither did Cubone, and Houndour seemed indifferent either way, but Squirtle came out looking rather listless and dried out. "Did you enjoy your meal?" asked the waitress, smile glued firmly to her face again. "Please come again!"

As they left through the automatic doors, Craig looked at Jeff and asked, "Does that lady remind you of anyone?"

"Like who?" asked Jeff.

"Nurse Joy."

"Definitely."

Craig checked his watch. "Well, it's getting on in the hours. The, uh, 'sun' is setting. Should we go back to the room and sleep?"

Jeff shrugged. "I suppose we could. Any objections?"

No complaints.

"Alright, then that's what we'll do." Jeff began walking towards the Center across the street. "I'm pretty tired anyway; we covered a lot of ground today. But tomorrow, we start training to fight the resident Gym Leader, so get all rested up. Shouldn't be a problem for Houndour." The Center's doors wheezed open and the group continued inside. Jeff broke off to ask Nurse Joy a question. "Where are the stairs?"

"Down the hall, first door on the left."

"Thanks."

Craig patted Cubone's head, making him flinch, so he pulled his hand away. "So, Cubone, what was that move of yours that you did in the fight with Bernard?"

Cubone shrugged. "I don't know, really. I just took your advice and kept hitting him with random stuff. Then something happened, and I wasn't sure where I was. I kept seeing illusions everywhere, and I didn't know where the right Pupoisn was. It was confusing."

"I had a suspicion about that," said Jeff. "I think that was the move Thrash. You attack your opponent by flailing wildly with all the power you've got, then once you do that two or three times, the fatigue screws up your vision. The term is Confusion. It wears off after a while, but during that time you have a good chance of accidentally hurting yourself."

"Oh," said Cubone. "So my only offensive move is an attack which ends up back-firing. Lovely."

"What a lucky guy I am," grumbled Craig. Cubone whacked him in the shin with his club.

A loud rumbling noise shook the cavern, and a tremor passed underfoot. An inhumanly loud scream rang out, slightly muffled by the walls around them, quickly followed by a cliche cry of "Oh, no! It's the Chain Gang!"

The scream was now followed up by a roar, a deep ominous roar suggesting power. Jeff's first instinct was to run away, but Craig said, "What the hell was that? Come on let's go check it out!" and then he ran back out the door with his two pokémon trailing behind him.

"Yes, Craig, the best thing to do in this situation is run directly towards what is probably extremely dangerous," muttered Jeff sarcastically to no one in particular. He charged out the door after his friend.

...

In the middle of the city, quite close to the town-hall style building, numerous sneering small-time gang members were hopping of their mounts and recalling them. Golbat after Golbat was recalled, while some remained out of their balls to perch on the ceiling of the cave. "They got in without us knowing," said a bystander to himself as Jeff passed. "Flew in over our heads."

The gang was standing in some sort of circle, with civilians also standing around a few feet away. The gang was dressed in mostly green, green leather vests, green bandannas, etcetera. The only things that weren't green were their shoes. They were bright red. Nothing was being said, at least by the gang. The spectators were gasping and murmuring among themselves to their hearts delight.

Then, another, larger gangster swooped down. This one was big and fat, with a large beard and a bald head. He was riding a Crobat, while the others had ridden Golbat, so Jeff assumed he was the leader.

"Citizens of Cloam City," the gang leader said in a very super-villain's-face-broadcast-over-every-television-in-the-country kind of way, "We, the Chain Gang, have been asking your mayor for money for a week now. He has refused to pay up. The deadline has passed, meaning that we will go through with our threat to smash part of your city into pieces. This is not plain brutality and destruction, this is _comeuppance_ for not meeting requirements."

There was a pause.

Then a lady screamed.

That seemed to be the signal; the Chain Gang pulled out their pokéballs as a group and opened them. Multiple different types of pokémon emerged, all Steel-types. There were Scizor, Lairon, Bronzor, and Mawile. The leader grinned and opened his Great ball, and out came a Steelix. Just it's appearance destroyed a couple empty buildings.

"However!" The boss said, before a group of Scizor lay into a building. "If there is someone here who can defeat my Steelix in a battle, we will leave peacefully. Choose your champion. You have exactly one minute."

"There's no need to choose a champion," said a voice from the crowd. The owner of the voice strode forward, stepping out of the throng of people into the open. It was a tall man, with a stocky build and a beard (although it was a small fry compared to the Chain Gang's leader). A white scar ran down his left cheek, disappearing under his beard. "I'll fight you."

Jeff was standing across from the man, and he could see an insignia over his breast pocket. It was a red H, in italics, with a yellow starburst shape behind it. He recognized the symbol from something he'd seen on TV, but Jeff couldn't remember what it meant.

The boss chuckled. "If you think you can defeat the infamous Richard Werther in a battle, you are sadly mistaken, short-stuff. Go on. Choose your pokémon, I'll wait."

The man plucked a pokéball off his belt and maximized it. The tension in the crowd had silenced everybody; their homes rested on this battle.

The man tossed his ball onto the field, and it snapped open to release it's contents. The white energy that poured out quickly took a solid form, and the form it chose was a Dusknoir.

"A Dusknoir, eh?" said the boss (Richard). "Nice choice. No match for Steelix, though. Steelix, use Crunch!"

Steelix crashed its way forward, smashing a vendor's cart and pulverizing his wares. It opened its mouth wide, aiming to crush the foe in its powerful jaws. This failed miserably, as Dusknoir just swooped out of the way.

"Dusknoir, Fire Punch!" shouted the man with the H symbol. Dusknoir reared it's fist back to punch, coating it in fire in the process. Steelix turned it's head just in time to catch the punch square between the eyes. Steelix crashed down, a large burn mark singeing it's forehead. It quickly snapped back up, looking more pissed off than anything.

"Steelix, Crunch again!" shouted Richard, and Steelix clamped it's jaws down on Dusknoir before the latter had any time to dodge. It shook it around, like a dog with a bone, then threw Dusknoir away. Dusknoir managed to avoid collateral damage by turning intangible before smashing through a window, then flew back out again. However, it's lower form seemed a bit ragged, as if it was having trouble keeping it's form together.

"Dusknoir, Focus Blast!" shouted the H man. Dusknoir swept it's arms above it's head in a Spirit-Bomb-esque pose and began to build an orange ball of pure fighter energy. The ball grew larger and larger until it was almost the same size as Dusnoir's round torso.

"Quick, Steelix, before it can fire, Dig!" Richard yelled, and Steelix's body segments began to rotate in staggered directions, effectively driving a hole into the ground. The giant steel snake slipped into the hole, disappearing. The only sign it was still there was the continuos rumbling of a tunnel being dug. The useful thing about the move Dig was that as the user travelled, the hole sealed itself, as the user would carve out more tunnel and force dirt behind itself, sealing the tunnel behind it.

"Dusknoir, wait a moment," shouted the H man. The rumbling continued, until it was right underneath Dusknoir. Then, without warning, Steelix burst out of the ground at an incredible speed, propelling it high into the air.

Unfortunately for it, Dusknoir had moved three feet to the left.

Steelix shot high into the cavern, realizing that it had missed. It reared it's head back and thrust it forward, flipping itself over. It then began to fall straight down. Dusknoir looked up, and Jeff swore he saw the mouth on it's stomach smile.

Dusknoir aimed the ball accordingly, and Steelix's metal features fell (well, its whole body was falling, but you get my point) as it realized it's mistake. Dusknoir threw the Focus Blast upward, smashing it right into Steelix's burned spot. When Steelix landed on the ground (hard enough to cause a shudder through the whole city), it was unconscious.

Richard was speechless. When he did find his voice, all he could say was, "What...how...Steelix...what?"

The Dusknoir trainer chuckled. "Don't you know, _Dick_? Never go up against Team Hypernova unless you want to lose." Dusknoir floated back down to it's trainer, and he recalled it.

Jeff snapped his fingers. That was where he'd seen the H. There had been a special on TV last month about the glories of Team Hypernova and how they were helping the world for no charge.

Richard suddenly found himself able to form whole sentences again. "T...Team Hypernova? A Dusknoir user from Team Hypernova...are...are you?" he pointed a stunned and shaky finger at the man from Team Hypernova.

"If the name you're looking for is Commander Perry Johnson, then yes, I am." said Perry Johnson.

There was a moment of silence from both the bystanders and the gang.

Then Richard let out his Crobat and yelled to his cronies, "Go, go, GO! We don't stand a chance, even against this one guy!"

The rest of the Chain Gang let out their Golbat or called them down from the ceiling, then recalled their would-be destructive pokémon and the gang flew out the way they'd come in. Once the last one had flown out, the gathered crowd let out an enormous cheer and began to throng Perry. Perry held his hands up in both defense and modesty.

"Now, people, I'm just a simple Trainer like you, no need to flock me like that," he said, which only made everyone press in closer. Jeff had to stand on his toes to be able to see Perry, but that wasn't who he was looking for anyway; he still hadn't found Craig. Then he spotted him, he was meshed into the crowd a few feet away. Jeff shoved and squirmed his way through the crowd, grabbing Craig by the shoulder.

"Craig, come on, we've got to get back to the hotel," Jeff said. "Jeez, why did you run off like that?"

"Because something was happening over here, and I wanted to see it," said Craig, allowing himself to be dragged along through the crowd. Cubone and Eelava wormed through the throng of legs behind him. Eventually they made it out of the crowd, and Jeff turned to Craig.

"You're an idiot, you know that? I mean, really, running towards what could potentially be a dangerous place? What were you thinking?" Jeff snapped. "Now you've wasted time that could have been spent getting some valuable shut-eye. Look, I'm already acting cranky."

Craig shrugged. "Oh well. We did get to see a cool battle, though."

"That's not the–oh, screw it, let's just go back to the Pokémon Center." Jeff turned on his heel and began stalking back towards the Center.


End file.
